[governance] ICANN/USG Affirmation of Commitments

Paul Lehto lehto.paul at gmail.com
Sat Oct 3 10:46:31 EDT 2009 

On 10/2/09, "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"
<wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de> wrote:
> Paul
>
> what is your definition of legitimacy in a global world? Are there other
> soruces of legitimacy than one man one vote elections? And how to organize
> such elections globally (with 1.4 billion Chinese people who want certainly
> to have a vote)?
>
> And what is your definition of accountability? A single master-slave
> relationship? And in this case who will be the ultimate master and how the
> master gets the legitimacy to act on behalf of 2 billion Internet users in
> the public interest?

As stated in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the US Declaration of
Independence and amplified by the worldwide love of democracy, the
only legitimate source of political authority is the people, via the
consent of the governed which is generated via elections.  Without the
recourse of elections, everyone is a vassal, a slave, a servant to
whatever happens.  And if what happens turns out to be favorable for
any reason, what one receives is a privilege revokable at will and at
any time and most certainly not a right, because people don't have any
say or input that can't be ignored - they don't have a vote.

Accountability consists of transparency of information so that the
governed, the voters, can make a judgment about whether to continue
the policy and/or the policy makers in power, or not.  That
accountability is eliminated by the ICANN "independence" --
independence is separation with no accountability to anyone that ICANN
doesn't wish to or allow itself to be accountable.  If it ensures that
its funding is diverse enough and has caps on total amounts, it will
be a free "king" so to speak, but most likely large contributors,
mostly corporate, will be the only ones with influence and say.  But
even they have only one recourse, which is to withhold future
contributions.
>
> Thanks
>
> Wolfgang
>
> ________________________________
>
> Von: Paul Lehto [mailto:lehto.paul at gmail.com]
> Gesendet: Fr 02.10.2009 19:37
> An: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Roland Perry
> Betreff: Re: [governance] ICANN/USG Affirmation of Commitments
>
>
>
> The bottom line is that every remnant of DEMOCRATIC accountability has
> been stripped from ICANN.  Whatever remains appears to be merely
> advisory, which has no power ultimately at all, but even if something
> is created that DOES have power, it's most definitely NOT democratic.
> THis is the coup de grace for privatization of the internet, which
> means that the public interest can NEVER truly exist because the
> private players on the internet are all larger corporations, whose
> charters and legal structure require them to pursue one single thing
> with a single-minded intensity -- profit for their shareholders (or,
> in the case of nonprofits, whatever educational or charitable goal is
> defined there).  Although nonprofits are definitely much more
> public-interest minded, at the end of the day no nonprofit can
> legitimately claim to represent the PUBLIC INTEREST -- only
> democratically elected politicians can do that, and only if they are
> behaving correctly as well.   Thus, no matter who (if anybody)
> controls ICANN outside ICANN's board of directors, it isn't
> democratic, we can be certain of that.
>
> Thus, it's very disturbing to me that there's a giveaway of a huge
> asset (for public interest protection purposes) like ICANN and they
> didn't even SELL it or auction it off to get money for taxpayers NOR
> did they transfer it to a democratically accountable global
> organization with real power over ICANN (the best choice).
>
> What I'm saying is that whoever effectively controls ICANN, it
> certainly isn't the people of the United States of America, nor is it
> the people of several nations, and it is definitely not the people of
> the entire globe.  Thus, without a way for people to vote (ultimately,
> even if a long process) to elect politicians with a mandate to
> restructure or differently regulate ICANN, there is no public control
> of ICANN, and thus ICANN has achieved independence from democracy or
> democratic control itself.  And, ICANN has done so specifically
> without creating any real substitute for the control of the US
> government.
>
> For what it's worth, "Advisory Boards" no matter how seriously they
> are or seem to be taken, are a joke on the level of actual control.
> They're free labor to the organization that ultimately can do whatever
> it wants to and the advisors have no cause to complain, since they are
> merely advisors, after all.   Thus, ICANN freely announces its
> "independence" which is another way of announcing its separation from
> democratic control of all kinds.  NOTHING THAT IS A PUBLIC SERVANT OF
> THE PUBLIC INTEREST IS "INDEPENDENT" OR SEPARATE.
>
> Thus, the announcement is a game of sleight of hand, in which they are
> purporting to create global accountability, but most definitely and
> clearly are not, because there's no democracy left in it.  The only
> powers that be outside democracy are corporations.  Some or many will
> cheer that the US government is taking its hands off, but at least the
> people in the US could push for public interest policies and make them
> stick if it became a big enough campaign issue.  But now, even that
> limited possibility is gone.   The shell of independence for ICANN has
> been moved, but underneath that shell is no real accountability for
> ICANN to the global community.
>
>  On 10/1/09, Roland Perry <roland at internetpolicyagency.com> wrote:
>> In message
>> <76f819dd0910011242u2d26722eg4cac8f606ece0282 at mail.gmail.com>, at
>> 12:42:19 on Thu, 1 Oct 2009, Paul Lehto <lehto.paul at gmail.com> writes
>>>It doesn't matter how diverse the "stakeholders" are in their country
>>>of origin, race, creed, sex, or what have you, if the stakeholders and
>>>the public as a whole do not have a CONTROL mechanism.  The
>>>elimination of all remaining control mechanisms (elections, as an
>>>indirect control) is precisely what's being accomplished with the
>>>agreement between the US Commerce Department and ICANN to make them
>>>essentially independent, subject only to an advisory board.
>>
>> I'm not sure what this has to do with the GAC members.
>>
>> Are you suggesting that the ultimate control be given over to ALAC,
>> rather than GAC?
>>
>> Just curious, I don't have a "position" of my own regarding this.
>>
>>>With politicians, every communication to them is utterly toothless if
>>>it idoes not carry (as it always does) an implied threat that one will
>>>vote the poltician out of office if they don't do the right thing.
>>>With the new ICANN structure, even this vestigial remedy (attenuated
>>>as it was by the insulation of the commerce department from the
>>>electorate) is eliminated in every meaningful sense.
>>>
>>>I'd be the first to welcome true and real global governance regarding
>>>the internet.  The fact that they've put in the semblance of "global"
>>>but zero "governance" means that the shift is an abdication of all
>>>public, democratic control, even if that control was improperly
>>>limited to a single country, the USA.  Even more importantly, there's
>>>no mechanism with which to fight to CREATE true control on the global
>>>level in favor of the public interest.
>>>
>>>Thus, we can't fight, lobby or progress from the new posture of an
>>>independent ICANN to a situation of true global control/governance
>>>without (1) a nearly unprecedented act (in the history of Power) to
>>>voluntarily create genuine and real accountability on a global scale,
>>>OR (2) a revolution or revolt.  And just how does one have a
>>>revolution or revolt against a corporation at all, much less a
>>>corporation that has a monopoly on what it does, and which we all need
>>>to exist or have a "domain" on the internet?
>>
>> So you don't think you can work inside the existing (and as-modified)
>> ICANN framework to achieve any of this? [Same disclaimer as above].
>>
>>>Paul Lehto, Juris Doctor
>>>
>>>On 10/1/09, Roland Perry <roland at internetpolicyagency.com> wrote:
>>>> In message <1254397157.3941.611.camel at anriette-laptop>, at 13:39:17 on
>>>> Thu, 1 Oct 2009, Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette at apc.org> writes
>>>>>One question I have about the GAC, does it not become very important to
>>>>>have input from different stakeholders at country level in the
>>>>>identification/nomination of GAC members
>>>>
>>>> As a matter of simple fact, the GAC members are usually the most obvious
>>>> career employee of the ministry charged with overseeing "International
>>>> Telecoms issues", and are therefore likely to also turn up at ITU
>>>> meetings, EU telecoms/Internet meetings, IGF consultations, UN-ECOSOC
>>>> etc.
>>>>
>>>> Plus there are a few who might alternatively be their country's
>>>> "Internet Czar".
>>>> --
>>>> Roland Perry
>>>> ____________________________________________________________
>>>> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Roland Perry
>> ____________________________________________________________
>> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
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>
>
> --
> Paul R Lehto, J.D.
> P.O. Box #1
> Ishpeming, MI  49849
> lehto.paul at gmail.com
> 906-204-4026
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>
>


-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box #1
Ishpeming, MI  49849
lehto.paul at gmail.com
906-204-4026
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